The president of the Peruvian Congress, Lady Camones, was dismissed last Monday, September 5, after the plenary approved a censure motion against her. This, was after hearing audios with the head of her party Alianza Para el Progreso (APP), César Acuña, where she affirmed that she would benefit him with the approval of a bill.
The motion, which was presented with the signature of 23 congressmen from leftist groups, subsequently received 61 votes in favor, 47 against, and 5 abstentions, for which reason a new vote must be called to appoint his replacement.
The audios were published by the investigative journalistic portal Epicentro. They would be the concrete evidence that Acuña ordered Camones to approve the law that would create a district (Alto Trujillo) to favor his candidacy for governor of the northern region of La Libertad.
In this way, the motion of censure accuses Camones of “attacking the Political Constitution” and the “guiding principles that characterize” democracy and constitutional order in Peru.
It should be noted that the motion was presented one day after the Peruvian government requested the resignation of the entire board of directors of Congress and the Attorney General’s Office and other agencies intervened to investigate the content of the audio. The facts would be linked to possible crimes of usurpation of functions, illegal sponsorship, influence peddling, and even an alleged criminal organization.
After the pronouncement of the Executive, the Ombudsman’s Office an autonomous constitutional body in charge of the national ombudsman- assured that the audios “would reveal an intention to use public power in favor of particular political interests, a fact that transgresses the ethical norms that should guide the electoral processes”.
For this reason, he invoked the Prosecutor’s Office “to carry out the corresponding investigations” and asked the National Jury of Elections (JNE) to evaluate if the norms on electoral neutrality were violated.
Meanwhile, the Prosecutor’s Office opened a preliminary investigation against César Acuña for alleged influence peddling.
Camones was only in office for 38 days, since he won the presidency of the Congress last July 26th. Now, the sessions of the plenary of the Congress will be conducted on an interim basis by the pro-Fujimori Martha Moyano, who is the first vice-president of the Legislative, who has five days to convene the process in which the next president will be chosen, who will hold office until July of next year.
After the censure of Lady Camones, the decision of the Ethics Commission must be awaited, from where it was indicated that in three months, approximately, the result would be announced.
Image: ESAN Business
